A three-dimensional modeling device is conventionally known which uses a photocurable resin having a substance cured by irradiation with visible light, ultraviolet light, or other light.
This three-dimensional modeling device is configured so as to fabricate a three-dimensional modeled object by a method such as the method described below, for example.
A photocurable resin stored in a storage tank is irradiated with light, whereby an amount of the photocurable resin commensurate with a predetermined liquid layer thickness is cured and a cured layer is formed on a surface of a base member immersed in the photocurable resin stored in the storage tank and which serves as a foundation for a three-dimensional modeled object.
An amount of the base member commensurate with the predetermined liquid layer thickness is moved, after which the photocurable resin is further irradiated with light, and a new cured layer is formed on the cured layer previously cured.
The operation of forming a new cured layer on the previous cured layer is sequentially repeated, and a three-dimensional modeled object is fabricated by layering cured layers.
The details of such a three-dimensional modeling device are disclosed, for example, in Japanese patent application laid-open publication No. H06-246838 (Patent Reference 1), the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
In a three-dimensional modeling device configured as described above, when a cured layer is formed, laser light is radiated to the photocurable resin while a vector image is drawn, for example, and the photocurable resin is cured in a predetermined shape having a predetermined liquid layer thickness.
Specifically, the three-dimensional modeling device described above is configured so as to cure the photocurable resin and form a three-dimensional shape by projecting a two-dimensional image from a projector, or moving a laser light using an XY drive device, a galvano mirror, or the like for moving the laser light on a two-dimensional XY plane.
When forming one cured layer, the laser light first scans the photocurable resin along a contour of the cured layer on the basis of data representing the shape of the cured layer, for example, and the contour of the cured layer is formed. The laser light then scans the region inside the contour to cure the photocurable resin inside the region, and a cured layer having a predetermined shape is formed.
The data representing the shape of the cured layer described above are cross-sectional shape data representing cross sections cut at predetermined intervals from the three-dimensional modeled object to be fabricated, and in the present specification, the cross-sectional shape data representing cross-sections of the three-dimensional modeled object are referred to as “slice data.”
The slice data described above are usually generated from a polygon mesh of the three-dimensional modeled object to be fabricated, the polygon mesh being data created by a three-dimensional computer-aided design (CAD) system.
All of the polygon mesh for generating the slice data is configured from triangular faces, and in order for slice data to be generated from the polygon mesh and modeling to be performed in the three-dimensional modeling device, the polygon mesh must satisfy the conditions of a perfect solid model.
Here, for the polygon mesh to “satisfy the conditions of a perfect solid model” means that all of the triangular faces constituting the polygon mesh are connected at sides thereof, and that two triangular faces are connected at each of all of the sides.
A polygon mesh actually employed in a three-dimensional modeling device may sometimes not satisfy the conditions of a perfect solid model described above.
In this case, before generating slice data, a worker must use commercially available modification software or the like to modify the polygon mesh that does not satisfy the conditions of a perfect solid model and create a polygon mesh that satisfies the conditions of a perfect solid model in advance.
However, it has been pointed out that even when a worker applies modification to the polygon mesh using modification software, the modification necessary for enabling slice data to be generated is not easy to perform, and the worker is forced to perform advanced modification.
It has also been pointed out that the commercially available modification software is extremely expensive, and the modification software itself is not easy to purchase.